Tess Cooling
Tess Cooling is a Monmouth artist who specialises in religious and spiritual calligraphy. She illustrates verses or quotations from a wide variety of sources such as poetry, scriptures and speeches.
Her latest commissioned work has been presented to the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams. The piece 'Hunger for Justice - Words on Slave Ship' was presented to Dr Williams when he opened the 2007 Christian Resources Exhibition at Esher. The work contains quotations from Wilberforce and other campaigners and also quotes from recent commentators who have spoken out against human exploitation and trafficking.
Tess said, ‘It was a great honour to be commissioned to do this work for the Archbishop during the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slave trade. I wanted to capture different aspects of the trade in the piece. The words depict the ship crammed with slaves, their inhuman treatment and the blood that was shed in this horrible trade.’
Tess’ work is gaining increasing recognition. Many of her pieces are sold as limited edition prints. She works from her studio at home in Monmouth and every piece is designed, painted and finished exclusively by her using gold leaf.
Her work, which can be viewed on her website www.cooligraphy.co.uk, is often given as gifts for retirements ordinations and anniversaries. Some of her most popular pieces include her illustration of the verses from 1 Corinthians 13, ‘Love is Patient, Love is Kind’, and the blessing ‘May the Lord Bless You and Keep You’.
Bishop Dominic Walker viewed an exhibition of work by Tess at St Mary’s Church Monmouth following the special service to celebrate the 10th anniversary of women’s ordination in Wales. ‘It was good to meet Tess and see some of her beautiful calligraphy. I have suggested some special words form St Augustine for her to do as a future piece of work’ said Bishop Dominic after viewing the exhibition.
Tess is happy to exhibit her work at any of the churches in the Monmouth Diocese. She can be contacted on 01600 713021 or email tessiecooling@btinternet.com.